Detour toward national dementia

IF THERE'S ANYBODY left out there who still swears allegiance to one of our two broken political parties, we have a recommendation: Go get your head examined.

In this corner there's Hillary Clinton, whose candidacy prompted a national "yuck" reaction resulting in the election of Donald Trump, who probably could have been beaten by any number of stronger options. The "yuck" continued last week with Democrat stalwarts Donna Brazile and Sen. Elizabeth Warren saying the Clinton campaign essentially rigged the Democratic National Committee's responses during the primary run-up. Clinton's maneuvers undermined the campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders, who otherwise might well have beaten her. And he might have beaten Trump, too.

IN THE OTHER CORNER is the man America elected President, tweeting up a storm calling Warren "Pocahontas," accusing Clinton of acting "illegally," and going back toward that old "lock-'er-up" refrain by stating "Lets go FBI & Justice Dept."

It is nothing short of astonishing that America's political system - theoretically the bedrock of democracy and beacon for the Free World - has sunk to these levels.

Something is desperately wrong.

Everybody wants to hope the system will give American voters choices from among the best and brightest.

Instead, extreme partisanship created a situation in which the two candidates vying to lead were, to be polite, deeply distasteful.

THE QUESTION IS: Can this detour into destructive national dementia be salvaged, so the country can get back to representing the ideals envisioned by the Founders some 240 years ago?

The answer will be collective, determining whether enough Americans are sufficiently fed up to rise in rebellion again the political class and its enablers. Not a rebellion, by the way, like the one espoused by the Bannonites - simply tear it all down and replace it with ..., well, what? Anarchy?

We mean a rebellion based on the ideals of the Founding Fathers, improved over the years by inclusive steps that brought more meaning to the words "created equal." Come on, people. Be better than this.

Share Now

Read More Editorials

February 21, 2018 at 4:00 pm |
Time to talk about policy now? Not if bought-and-paid-for politicians can stall. WE CAN THINK of no better example to illustrate the political paralysis and abject futility that has doomed appeals...

February 21, 2018 at 4:00 pm |
IT WAS a reasonable question: Did a U.S. Supreme Court order that told Pennsylvania legislators to immediately redraw the districts of U.S. House members signal how the Court would rule in the chall...

February 14, 2018 at 4:00 pm |
The evidence is in: Neither political party cares about deficits and debt. JOE SCARBOROUGH, the former Republican congressman and host of the eponymous cable television political show "Morning Joe...